Drama/Transcript
Transcript An image shows a red stage curtain with comedy and tragedy theater masks in front of it. Text reads: The Mysteries of Life with Tim and Moby. TIM: Slave, thou hast slain me! Villain, take my purse: If ever thou wilt thrive, bury my body; And give the letters which thou find’st about me to Edmund, Earl of Gloucester; Seek him out upon the English party. O, untimely death! Tim, a young man, lies on the wooden floor of a stage. He is dressed in Shakespearian attire. A prop sword sticks into the center of his chest with fake blood on the end. As he finishes his lines, he closes his eyes and sticks out his tongue. Moby, a robot, cheers from the audience. MOBY:--Beep! --Beep! --Beep! TIM: Thank you, thank you very much. Tim stands on stage as roses are thrown to him. With the roses, an envelope is thrown. He picks it up and reads it. TIM: Dear Tim and Moby, I want to put on a play at my school, but I really don’t know that much about the theater. Can you tell me a little bit about what drama is all about? From, Jessica. Tim and Moby address the camera. TIM: Well, Jessica, drama is kind of a hard thing to define. Basically, drama is like a story, like the kind you’d read in a book. But instead of being read, the story is acted out in front of an audience. MOBY:--Beep! TIM: Sure, TV shows are a type of drama. So are movies and plays. Musical theater, in which characters express some of their thoughts and emotions through song and dance, is also a form of drama. Two actors are shown on stage. A woman wearing a blue dress holds out one arm to a man dressed like Abraham Lincoln as she supports her diaphragm with the other hand and sings to him. Text reads: musical theater. Tim and Moby address the camera. TIM: Drama can be presented in a variety of ways. Some dramas strive to be very realistic, with characters who speak and act just like regular people. In the plays of Norwegian writer Henrik Ibsen, realistic characters are forced to confront the same problems that people might encounter in real life. Henrik Ibsen is shown. He has a thick, white beard without a mustache. He wears thin-framed glasses. TIM: Other dramas call attention to the fact that what happens on stage is not real, with plots and characters that are purposely artificial. In Japanese kabuki theater, characters wear elaborate makeup and costumes, and speak in a strange, old-fashioned way. A kabuki actor stands on stage. The actor wears a long, red kimono and has a face painted stark white. Tim and Moby address the camera. MOBY:--Beep? TIM: No, none of this stuff is particularly new. Believe it or not, people have been putting on plays for more than 2,500 years! It all began in the ancient Greek city of Athens, sometime around 600 B.C.E. Back then, they’d have these festivals in honor of Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and revelry. Dionysus sits on a throne. He wears a long, flowing toga. He has a gray beard and hair and laurel wreath perched atop his head. He holds a glass of wine. TIM: Sometimes, a group of people, called a chorus, would get up in front of an audience and tell a story or recite a long narrative poem. A group of people wearing robes of various colors stand on steps with their arms held wide. Their mouths are open. TIM: Around 534 B.C.E., a guy called Thespis changed the format a little bit. He acted out the different parts in the song or poem, putting on a mask and speaking in the voices of the characters. Soon, Greek playwrights introduced more and more characters to these performances, and drama as we know it was born! Thespis wears a red tunic and holds a teal mask in front of his face. Suddenly, other actors appear at his side, one at a time. They all wear different colored tunics and hold different colored masks. Tim and Moby address the camera. MOBY:--Beep? TIM: No, they didn’t have reality shows back then. The most popular plays were tragedies and comedies. Comedies are plays with happy endings; tragedies are just the opposite. A king kneels beneath a bloody knife, which appears to be aimed right at him. Text reads: tragedies. A female shepherd laughs as she walks away from a jester, who follows her. Text reads: comedies. TIM: In a tragedy, a king, or queen, or other noble figure usually suffers through some terrible misfortune. A king cries out as he holds the limp body of a young woman. TIM: But their bad luck is always a result of their own mistakes or errors in judgment. This is called a tragic flaw.The most common tragic flaw is hubris, or too much pride. Tim and Moby address the camera. TIM: Tragedies and comedies are still written and performed today! MOBY:--Beep! TIM: Yeah, that death scene I was performing before, that’s from a tragedy. But no matter what kind of play you’re writing or performing, the main goal should be to get the audience to care about the characters and their problems. Tim’s face is shown six times with different expressions. The first face shows Tim smiling wide. The second face shows Tim with a slight frown and a tear running down one cheek. The third face shows Tim with an open mouth and raised eyebrows. The fourth face shows Tim with a slight frown and furrowed brows. The fifth face shows Tim with a slight smile and rosy cheeks. The sixth face shows Tim with quizzical eyebrows and his mouth slightly open. TIM: When this is done successfully, the audience identifies with the characters. They want the heroes to succeed and the villains to suffer. As “heroes to succeed” is spoken, an image shows a man in a white tunic with a gray cape holding his arms out wide on the back of a golden chariot. As “villains to suffer” is spoken, and image shows an angry wizard standing behind prison bars with his arms folded and a scowl on his face. TIM: So at the end of a comedy, the audience should be happy that things work out well for the characters. Moby sits in the audience at a theater. Everyone looks forward, toward the stage, and smiles. TIM: At the end of a tragedy, they should feel sadness and pity. Moby sits in the audience at a theater. Moby is dabbing his face with handkerchief. Everyone looks forward, toward the stage. Everyone frowns. Some have aggravated expressions and others are crying. TIM: This intense emotional experience is called a catharsis. Tim and Moby address the camera. MOBY:--Beep! A tear runs down Moby’s cheek, and he blows his nose with his handkerchief. TIM: Oh, knock it off, you drama queen. William Shakespeare was an expert at bringing out catharsis from his audiences. A man sits in front of a bookcase full of books. His shirt has an enormous collar. He has medium-length hair in the back, a receding hairline in the front, and a mustache. TIM: During his heyday, people from all levels of society—from the poor and uneducated to royalty—would come to the Globe Theater in London and enjoy his plays. The Globe Theater sits atop a hill. It is a cylindrical building, with what looks like a small house on top. Superimposed over the theater is the image of a farmer in overalls and another man in a fine suit and hat. TIM: His characters were usually motivated by complicated and sometimes conflicting emotions. And they expressed their problems in some of the most beautiful, poetic language ever written. A man wears a blue shirt with a puffy, white collar. He speaks to a skull that he holds up with one hand. TIM: Shakespeare’s plays are still incredibly popular. They’re performed almost everywhere—in schools, on TV and in the movies, and even in major theaters in New York and London! Images show a man in a green shirt and hat calling to a woman on a balcony in the moonlight; two men in brown robes attacking two men in red uniforms with knives on a television; and a man waiting in a ticket booth outside a theater beneath a marquee that reads: “Romeo & Juliet, William Shakespeare.” Tim and Moby address the camera. MOBY:--Beep! TIM: Well, I’m glad you liked my scene, but I don’t think I have a shot at starring on Broadway or anything like that. MOBY:--Beep? TIM: Well, my drama teacher said that my acting is cartoonish and two-dimensional. I wonder what she meant by that? Category:BrainPOP Transcripts Category:BrainPOP Arts & Music Transcripts